With all the heated discussion about whether Germany's 'firewall' against the far-right has cracked, it's also worth looking not just at the CDU motion that passed - again with far-right backing - but also at the one which failed, for a clue as to where citizenship reform in Germany may be heading.
Wednesday saw Germany's conservative Christian Democrats table two motions - a borders and asylum policy one that controversially passed with the backing of the far-right AfD, and a second motion on security containing references to dual citizenship. That motion ultimately failed to get a majority.
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What was in the failed motion?
Alongside several security measures, the CDU's failed resolution contained two provisions relating to German citizenship law.
The first would enable German nationality to be stripped from dual nationals convicted of serious crimes - whether or not they served a prison sentence for that serious crime. This goes beyond a law that was updated in 2019 that allowed for the stripping of German nationality from people fighting for terror networks abroad - such as Islamic State.
The second provision noted that "the new citizenship law passed by the 'traffic light' government with turbo-naturalisation after only three years and dual citizenship in general will again be abolished".
Citizenship provisions were not included in the CDU parliamentary motion that ultimately passed with far-right backing. That one was generally limited to border security provisions, and calls for detaining criminals who have been order deported, until their deportation can be carried out.
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Why is this failed motion important?
The fact that the CDU's motion on border security passed but one that would've called for the repeal of dual citizenship failed gives us some clues as to where the politics around citizenship reform - including dual citizenship - is headed to or not.
While the 'five-point plan' border security motion infamously passed with support from the CDU, liberal Free Democrats (FDP), and AfD, the citizenship repeal motion, which contained a total of 27 points, only saw the CDU vote in favour, while all other parties, including the FDP and AfD, voting against.
This ultimately gives us some clues as to how politically likely it is that the CDU will be able to repeal dual citizenship, with the SPD, Greens, and FDP - the only potential coalition partners for the CDU following the February 23rd election.
In short, this failed motion tells us that the CDU is highly unlikely to be able to find any governing coalition partner willing to repeal citizenship reform - including dual citizenship.
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Could the CDU repeal dual citizenship with the AfD's help?
Theoretically yes. In practice, this would be very politically difficult.
As we have just seen, relying on AfD votes to pass anything is extremely controversial - with large political risks involved with both the wider German electorate and even within the CDU itself. Doing so while the CDU was in coalition with another party that supports dual citizenship would also risk collapsing the entire government - as that partner could simply leave government in protest.
Furthermore, such repeal would also have to clear Germany's upper chamber - the Bundesrat.
Finally, a formal coalition between the CDU and AfD would likely split the CDU itself, would break a further taboo, and is prohibited by the CDU's own party constitution.
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